Telangana: 90 schools to have biogas plants soon in Mancherial

Education department officials are planning to introduce the biogas plants in 73 schools in rural parts and 17 in urban areas of Mancherial in a couple of months

Mancherial: Ninety schools in the district will soon have biogas or gobar gas plants replacing liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in order to cook mid day meals for students in the district. Each plant will cost Rs 50,000.

Education department officials are now successfully providing mid-day meals, cooked on the affordable source of energy produced with the help of a plant constructed at a primary school in Kotturipalli hamlet under Devunigudem village in Jannaram mandal. They are planning to introduce the biogas plants in 73 schools in rural parts and 17 in urban areas of the district in a couple of months.

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“We explored the creation of biogas plants as an alternative to the LPG at the school two months back. We could easily generate biogas and cook delicious food for the students. We selected the village considering availability of cow dung, a key ingredient for producing the eco-friendly energy,” Additional Collector (Local Bodies) B Rahul told ‘Telangana Today’.

Officials said the biogas plant was built through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. They said the cook was contributing around 10 kilograms of cow dung every day helping the maintenance of the facility. The management of the school can easily feed 32 pupils and 12 children of a nearby Anganwadi centre a day.

Buoyed by the success of the initiative, the authorities are rolling out similar plants in other State-run schools. Works on the plant are being executed at a desired pace at the schools located in Padthanpalli, Namnur , Donabanda, Rapalli and Mulkalla villages of Hajipur mandal. Other schools of the district will be equipped with the plants at the earliest.

The Education department is mulling to emulate the alternative source of energy in schools across the State if the move yields a positive result.